From a biological standpoint, socially cooperative behaviors could be an end in themselves, as far as your unconscious brain is concerned. But financial systems and policies ignoring the often-unconscious human social instincts do so at their peril. The authors offer a few practical steps for reinforcing the “social contract” that might alleviate the growing rift between the financial markets and society.

With more attention to the empirical applications of modern neuroscience, we can better understand the connections between predictors of success and individual variability in training and learning. Equivalence may not be the key to preparing the modern soldier.

A raft of scientific evidence in recent years, along with a recent book, demonstrates that environment has a very strong impact on an individual’s brain development. The work effectively rebuts most of the lingering arguments over the controversial Bell Curve hypothesis.

Increasingly complicated fMRI research demands increasingly sophisticated evaluations of its validity. We should neither ignore the serious problems with fMRI, nor dismiss its potential to make important scientific discoveries.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has announced that it will investigate CIA detention and interrogation practices during the Bush administration. Though some observers will surely find fault with officials’ behavior, the goal is to find the facts rather than place blame. [...]

The past few days have yielded stories on how poverty affects childhood cognitive development, societal acceptance of brain enhancing drugs, the first meeting of the Neuroethics Society, and the most famous patient in neuroscience research.

Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder are major clinical challenges for doctors treating soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Although very different in nature, the symptoms of the two conditions overlap, making diagnosis and treatment difficult.

Originally, the Neuroethics Society expected 50—maybe 80—people to show up for its First Annual Meeting. But over 200 neuroethics devotees assembled last week at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. This is just the beginning, as neuroscience experts are moving to educate more policymakers on the implications of advances in the field.

A large set of questions for 21st century neural and behavioral science has come into focus, and they will play a significant role in both national intelligence operations and in relations within a globalized scientific community.

Deep brain stimulation is an experimental technique in which electrodes are implanted into the thalamus to correct the effects of neurodegenration or brain injury. Scientists have used the process to treat essential tremor since 1997 and Parkinson’s disease since 2002. The Neurophilosophy blog reports that doctors have recently used the technique to monitor brain surgery in real time—and in tempo. Neurosurgeons had their patient, the legendary bluegrass musician Eddie Adcock, play his banjo while he was undergoing deep brain stimulation.

Anyone who has ever parented a 13-year-old human female knows this already: There is a sarcasm neural system, and its appearance must be associated with early adolescence. So far only the first assertion has been confirmed by neuroscience.

New technologies enable scientists to understand, alter, and enhance our brains. These raise a host of policy-relevant questions about privacy, social and political coercion, access to technology and therapy.

In a briefing yesterday for Capitol Hill staffers, neuroscientist Martha Farah explained that new technologies that enhance the power of the brain also raise questions about safety, economic fairness, privacy, and personal freedom.

Scientists at the University of California-Berkeley have developed a “visual decoder” which employes a computational algorithm to identify what someone saw just by examining their brain activity. The success of the study represents an advance in the scientific understanding of how the brain processes images, but could also have potential ramifications for mind-reading technology.

The U.S. is pursuing new approaches to nurture science and technology innovation—and so is the UK. This week’s National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship newsletter sets the two plans next to one another. Perhaps each government could learn from the other.

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The U.S. is pursuing new approaches to nurture science and technology innovation—and so is the UK. This week's National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship newsletter sets the two plans next to one another. Perhaps each government could learn from the other.
David Goldston gave a recent talk at the University of Connecticut on the political polarization of scientific evidence, the difference between science policy debates and debates over scientific evidence, and the proper role for scientists to take if they want to inform politicians accurately, honestly, and effectively. Former Staff Director of the House Committee on Science and Technology under Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Goldston appeared today on WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show.
Time magazine has a powerful and thoughtful first-person account of erasing a patient's bad memory. This is not about medications and therapies that may come about in the future or are currently under development. This is about a real case of immediate memory erasure that happened a number of years ago. The substance employed is called propofol and its usage raises issues about the ethics of informed consent and the nature of personhood vs brain chemistry.

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Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.